When we say a certain rose is red, we seem to be attributing a property, redness, to it. But are there really such properties? If so, what are they like, how do we know about them, and how are they related to the objects which have them and the linguistic devices which we use to talk about them? This collection presents these ancient problems in a modern light. In particular, it makes accessible for the first time the most important contributions to the contemporary controversy about the nature of properties. Those new to the subject will find the clearly-written introduction, by two experts in the field, an invaluable guide to the intricacies of this debate. The volume illustrates very well the aims and methods of modern metaphysics and show how a thorough understanding of the metaphysics of properties is crucial to most of analytic philosophy.
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About the Author
D. H. Mellor is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Darwin College. His books include The Facts of Causation (1995), Matters of Metaphysics (1991), and Real Time (1981).
Alex Oliver is University Assistant Lecturer in Philosophy at Cambridge University, and Fellow of and Director of Studies in Philosophy at Queens College, Cambridge. He was previously Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
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What are properties?,
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This review is from: Properties (Oxford Readings in Philosophy) (Paperback)
The essays in this topical collection provide a thorough discussion of that question. Drawn mostly from contemporary philosophy, the collection nevertheless begins a bit further back: with Gottlob Frege's "Function and Concept," two contributions from Bertrand Russell, and F.P. Ramsey's "Universals."More recent selections are included from W.V.O. Quine ("On What There Is"), Frank Jackson, Michael Devitt, D.M. Armstrong, Donald C. Williams, Keith Campbell, Chris Daly, David Lewis, Sydney Shoemaker, and co-editor D.H. Mellor. The volume will be of special interest to readers looking for sources on the problem of universals. Naturally each contribution deals with the problem to some extent, but particularly interesting is an exchange between Michael Devitt and D.M. Armstrong. Nominalists and realists sometimes talk past each other about this problem, and sure enough, much of the exchange between Devitt and Armstrong has to do with (a) why nominalists don't think there really _is_ a "problem" of universals and (b) why realists think nominalists are being all but willfully blind. In a spirited but cheerfully sporting verbal tennis match, Devitt responds to Armstrong's complaints (in _Universals and Scientific Realism_) about "ostrich nominalism" by attacking "mirage realism" instead. Armstrong offers a rejoinder which he thinks improves on his earlier discussion. The two part friends, with no injuries. There is also good discussion on trope theory and "abstract particulares," as one might expect from the inclusion of essays by Williams, Campbell, and Daly. This is an excellent collection both overall and in detail. It will be of interest to readers of D.M. Armstrong's _Universals: An Opinionated Introduction_, and it will also fit well alongside Andrew Schoedinger's topical collection _The Problem of Universals_. (There is surprisingly little overlap between Schoedinger's volume and the present one. Ramsey's "Universals," Russell's "The World of Universals," and Quine's "On What There Is" are the only essays common to the two collections.)
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Inside This Book
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My starting-point is what is called a function in mathematics. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
essential core cluster, causal potentialities, perfectly natural properties, ostrich nominalist, actual world properties, red things share, duplicate tropes, round square cupola, resemblance tropes, perfectly natural property, particularized property, red trope, trope theory, seeming conceivability, trope theorist, particularized properties, resembling tropes, sparse properties, conditional powers, most conspicuous property, abundant properties, primitive predication, coextensive properties, realist about universals, abstract singular terms Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Frank Jackson, Berkeley College, Mirage Realist, Keith Campbell, Nelson Goodman, Bertrand Russell, Harvard University Press, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Class Nominalism, George Allen, Kegan Paul, Ostrich Nominalist, Philosophical Review, Anthony Quinton, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Blackwell Publishers, Clarendon Press, David Armstrong, Dawes Hicks, Donald Davidson, George Washington, Identity of Indiscernibles, Jaegwon Kim New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
My starting-point is what is called a function in mathematics. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
essential core cluster, causal potentialities, perfectly natural properties, ostrich nominalist, actual world properties, red things share, duplicate tropes, round square cupola, resemblance tropes, perfectly natural property, particularized property, red trope, trope theory, seeming conceivability, trope theorist, particularized properties, resembling tropes, sparse properties, conditional powers, most conspicuous property, abundant properties, primitive predication, coextensive properties, realist about universals, abstract singular terms Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Frank Jackson, Berkeley College, Mirage Realist, Keith Campbell, Nelson Goodman, Bertrand Russell, Harvard University Press, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Class Nominalism, George Allen, Kegan Paul, Ostrich Nominalist, Philosophical Review, Anthony Quinton, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Blackwell Publishers, Clarendon Press, David Armstrong, Dawes Hicks, Donald Davidson, George Washington, Identity of Indiscernibles, Jaegwon Kim New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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- Abstract Particulars (Philosophical Theory) by Keith Campbell on 8 pages
- What is a Law of Nature? (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy) by D. M. Armstrong on 6 pages
- Word and Object (Studies in Communication) by Willard Van Orman Quine on 5 pages
- Quality and Concept (Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy) by George Bealer on 4 pages
- Ontological Relativity by W. V. Quine on 4 pages
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